


Silence as the Crow Dies

by DesolationPoint



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Attempted Murder, Blood and Gore, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Major Character Injury, Multi, Murder, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Starvation, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Notes, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:01:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25697716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesolationPoint/pseuds/DesolationPoint
Summary: After a deadly infection spreads across the world, Makoto Naegi takes it upon himself to find his family when they went missing, but as the virus grows and population dwindles, he's finding it hard to keep himself going.
Relationships: Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Kudos: 14





	1. Hope's Sorrow

**Author's Note:**

> *When I upload a fic because it's twelve chapters long and I had it all ready to go, but windows updated and deleted the whole thing*
> 
> this is the second time that's happened to me, but at least only affected a few things instead of everything. Idk when the next chapter of Kiss of Despair will be, so I finished this up as compensation.

**I will add tags (other than the ones listed) as the story progresses, the same goes for relationships, and character tags will be added as people appear. the current tags are just what's expected for a zombie AU, story-specific ones will be added as we progress.**

**There is no upload schedule. I will write whenever I have free time, but I will try and get a chapter out at least once a month.**

**P.S I wanted Ryouko to be in this, but I didn't want to fuck around with Junko, so Junko, Mukuro, and Ryouko are triplets in this. Just so we're all aware.**

* * *

_“Grahhh!”_

Holding his breath, Naegi could only watch as an infected woman sprinted towards him.

She threw him to the ground and they rolled around on the floor, the infected woman trying to bite him while he struggled frantically to keep her away, nearly allowing himself to be bitten. The revolting smell almost overpowered him, but Naegi managed to lift the girl just high enough to grab his weapon. Hardly managing to pull his knife out of his pocket, he brought it up and stabbed the girl in the side of the head. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a strong person, so it took a few tries before he was able to pierce the woman's skull and end her suffering.

After a moment, Naegi let out a breath and forced himself to control his breathing before he was able to push the girl off of him and to the side. His hands were covered in dirt, blood, and some unknown liquid. Light brown hair stuck to his sweaty forehead as he panted and gasped for air. After a few minutes, he reached for the knife, but he struggled to pull it out. It took Naegi a few minutes of twisting and pulling before he managed to get it out. 

The movies, for the most part, got it right. Destroy the brain, that’s the way to deal with them. You can’t just chop their heads off, they’re still active. No, you have to _completely_ destroy the brain. He learned that the hard way.

“That was close…”

Of course, he’d rather not kill them, to begin with. These people were sick and had no control over themselves. When a cure is made, he wants as many people to recover as possible. I mean, sometimes he doesn’t have a choice, but he’d still rather not do it. It wasn't fair, and he'd want the same for him.

_I’ll never find Komaru if I keep making these stupid mistakes…!_

That’s the whole reason he’s out here and not looking for a proper shelter. His little sister, Komaru Naegi, had gone missing along with his parents when the virus spread. She was only supposed to be gone for a few hours. When she never came back, their parents went looking for her, but Naegi never saw her or their parents again. 

“I better not waste time.” 

Naegi pushed himself up and cast the girl one last glance before taking a good look at the inside of the house. 

The house seemed to have somewhat collapsed inwardly on itself. The roof sagged and parts of it were crumbling down. Some windows had no glass in them, and others were cracked and covered with dirt. Parts of the floorboards were empty and rotten, and most of it seemed to be covered in what he could only assume was blood.

His nose wrinkled as he took a step in. As the breeze drifted into the room, the scent of rotten eggs and blood flared up; he knew this scent all too well.

Walking through the only floor of the house, he found himself in what appeared to be the living room. There was a couch (or possibly some sort of chair, it was too torn up to tell,) resting beside a small, broken down, coffee table. There was a TV across from it, but it’s screen was completely bashed in. Parts of the rug were moldy and others were missing large portions of the green material. 

_I wonder what happened here?_

He looked over to a bookcase, which looked oddly untouched. Wanting a better look, he walked over to inspect the books, there were a few types here. There was one about science, a few on cooking, what appeared to be school books, and there were even a few children's books on the bottom shelf. His heart ached for this family who no doubt succumbed to this disaster. 

As he kept looking around, he noticed a door at the end of the hall. He assumed it lead to a basement, but he decided to check it out later. 

Despite the rest of the house looking like a mess, the kitchen wasn’t too bad. Sure, there was dirt on the floor and dishes in the sink, but the place didn’t look all too bad. 

Naegi started rummaging through the cabinets. He pulled out every bit of canned food he could find; although, there wasn’t much there. It was only two cans of tomato soup, one can of beans, and one can of peaches. He also found a bag of sugar that he threw into his bag. 

_I might as well check the fridge._

He grabbed onto the cracked handle with a grimace, already smelling the rotten food inside. _Well, here’s to hoping._ Despite knowing it was a bad idea he pulled the door open. He was immediately met with the sight of a variety of moldy and rotten foods. Unfortunately, there was only one half-drunken bottle of juice, which he had no other choice but to take. 

With it safely in his pack, Naegi decided to investigate the door from earlier.

As Naegi cautiously opened the door, he found that he had been right. 

The basement itself was small but thankfully filled to the brim with tools, wood, and a variety of other materials; Naegi guessed the people who lived here were some sort of carpenters. On the right-hand wall was a small window, no bigger than a shoebox. He took a few steps in, his nose wrinkling from the smell of sawdust, stale cigarette smoke, and the faint rotten-egg smell. 

_At least_ _I can take a break here._ Which would be nice since it’d been a while since his last one. _I should also sort through my supplies while I have the chance._ Ever since the virus started, he’d been grabbing everything that could fit in his old school backpack, which wasn’t very large. Now would probably be a good time to rearrange things so he could borrow some of these tools.

Admittedly…his stock wasn’t all too good.

There were the items he’d just found, the two cans of tomato soup, the can of beans and peaches, plus the bag of sugar, and a half-filled bottle of juice. As for his food supplies, he only had a few candy bars, a can of soup, and a metal water bottle he’d been filling up with rainwater, or extra water he found. He has a fold-up umbrella, metal flashlight, a spare pocket knife, and a lighter for tools. As for clothes, he was only able to fit a single shirt, a pair of pants, and two pairs of socks inside. Aside from what he was carrying on hand, (which was a knife,) and what he was currently wearing (which is his signature outfit,) that was it.

On the bright side, this was enough food to last him a few days, probably more than a week if he rationed it the right way, and really, this was great for a person traveling alone. The thing is, he won’t be alone forever. Naegi had no doubt in his mind that he would find his family, so this wouldn’t do forever. There was also the fact that this backpack was small so it couldn’t carry much more than this, and if he was being honest, it was reaching max capacity already. He was hoping this basement would have a bigger backpack somewhere since he didn’t see one upstairs. After all, there were school books up there, so there should be some school supplies somewhere, right?

Speaking of that, since it looked like a carpenter lived here, Naegi was hoping a whetstone would be down here. Both of his knives were getting dull, so finding one was a priority. If not, grabbing a screwdriver or two wouldn’t be a bad idea as a backup.

With that, leaving his items in the middle of the room, Naegi decided to look around.

 _There’s a lot of wood_ , he noticed. It was stacked up beside a saw bench, some longer pieces were leaned against the left-hand wall, and a few uncut pieces were just left sitting on the floor. _I wonder what they were building here?_

His thoughts briefly drifted back to the woman he killed. What if she had been apart of this family, or what if she was the one who was building down here? What was she building, or who was she even building it for? _Or,_ he thought, pulling a dust-covered drawer open, _she might not have lived here at all._

These infected people were strange, they didn’t seem to be able to think. Until they see a non-infected human, they’ll wander around aimlessly. There was every possibility that she just wandered in. ...Unless she was a traveler and got infected inside, he couldn’t rule that out either.

Naegi kept searching the room and was a bit in awe. There were drills, saws, rulers, multiple toolboxes, sanders, and such. Whoever did own this must’ve been collecting things for years. All of this stuff was useful, but there was no way he could take it all with him.

By the time he was finished looking around, Naegi was at a standstill. While he didn’t find another backpack, he did find a duffel bag. He could fit a few items from his backpack and a few items from here in there. The problem though, was that it would slow him down a lot. It would mean it would take longer to find his family, and some of the infected people sprinted! He didn’t know why that happened, if it was how they were infected, or if it was a different type of infection, but some of the infected people walked, and some ran. If he got chased, he would have to drop his supplies, which wasn’t an option. 

So the question was whether or not he should take the extra bag. 

As he brought a few things back to his bag, he decided against it. While the idea of extra space was nice, carrying all of it by himself would be too much. Even though it was the end of Summer, it was still hot, plus he was wearing both his hoodie and blazer, which would be useful for the colder months. He was short and not very strong, plus the stuff he was already holding was heavy, so adding on to that wasn’t really an option. And with the infected people around, he just couldn’t take the extra risk.

Thus so, Naegi began loading his stuff back into his school bag, plus a few new items. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a whetstone but he was able to find a few good screwdrivers, a hacksaw, and a boxcutter. The screwdriver he placed in his pocket along with his dull pocket knife. The boxcutter he placed in one of the side pockets, and the hacksaw he connected to one of the loops on the front side of his backpack. 

While he was searching, he also grabbed glue, a small ax, a small bag of nails/screws, some sandpaper, and a tape measure. The glue and tape measure fits easily, but he did have to move stuff around for the ax. Originally, he wasn’t going to take the ax, but it was small and surprisingly lightweight, so he figured he better take it rather than leave it behind, plus it will be a good back up weapon. The pouch only held a few nails and screws, and he thought it would be useful in case he was forced to build a shelter. The sandpaper he admittedly didn’t need at all, but it was small and weighed next to nothing, so he placed it alongside the box cutter. 

It was better to take things rather than leave them behind, even if it wasn’t something important. At this point, anything could become useful.

“I’ll bring this all back when this is over,” he promised. Naegi moved to sit against an open section of one of the walls. 

He felt bad about stealing, but he really had no choice. Until he reached the town, where the nearest supermarket was, food wasn’t readily available. Not to mention that it would most likely be raided when he got there. If no one was here using these items that could save his life, then he might as well take them now and return them later. 

“This really sucks,” he whispered, leaning against one of the walls. _But I can’t really complain… I have a safe place for the night, that’s better than most people get anymore._

With those thoughts, Naegi couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. It wasn’t like him to have pessimistic thoughts, but times were getting tough. If he gave up hope now, then his survival would be for nothing. All the infected people he killed would be for nothing, all things he stole, the people he couldn’t help, his family… If he gave up for even a second, then all of it would be useless!

 _But It’ll be fine,_ he thought. _Tomorrow could be the day I find them, or the next day, or the day after…_ Naegi scooted down slightly so he could get in a more comfortable position for tonight. _But I’ll find them, I know I will. So…I can’t give up yet!_

Just as he closed his eyes, a sound came from above him. 

His eyes shot open, but as he tried to get up, he was met with the barrel of a gun. 

A woman pushed herself out of the shadows and stood just an inch away from Naegi, scanning him with fierce violet eyes. She had short black hair that was covered with grime as well as a sprinkling of freckles across her face. She wore a stained white long sleeve shirt with a bullet-resistant vest over it, almost unrecognizable jeans, black platform boots, and tan fingerless gloves. On her back were several guns, and around her waist and thighs were several knives, grenades, and a few other things he couldn’t recognize. 

Clearly she was a soldier, or at least someone _very_ familiar with weapons. 

“Uh…” Naegi froze up on the spot. _When did she come in here?!_

The woman narrowed her eyes and gestured for him to slide his bag over, which he did.

This wasn’t his first encounter like this. Well, not with a woman as dangerous as this. In the months since this whole thing started, he had a variety of encounters with the remaining population, most of which were friendly but some weren't and he had to rely on his terrible luck to get out of them. But this girl hasn’t shot at him yet, so it was at least a start.

“I’m Makoto Naegi,” he greeted calmly, despite his heart pounding frantically in his chest. If he could at least show her he was no threat that would be a win in his book. “I-”

“Hands behind your back,” she ordered coldly, grabbing his hoodie and yanking him up from the ground when he didn’t immediately move. She pressed his head onto the dirty table beside them and instantly started wrapping his wrists together with thick rope. When she was done, she pulled him to his feet and pushed him forward. 

“Where-”

“Go straight, up the stairs, and take the first door to the left.” Her voice was clipped yet quiet, making Naegi feel a little bit better. After all, if she were going to send him to his death, she would’ve done so already. 

She led him to a darkened room he’d somehow missed earlier and made him kneel in the center. She circled him a few times, always keeping the gun pointed at his head, before positioning herself in the front right corner of the room. 

That horrible rotten egg smell was coming from in here, but he couldn’t see where. The only distinct thing in this room was that the floorboards were far more rotten than any of the other rooms.

“Um…” He honestly didn’t know what to do in this situation. He didn’t think she was going to kill him, at least not yet, but he was at her complete mercy. She brought him here for a reason though, and he couldn’t be sure of her intentions. I mean, he was going through, what he could only assume, her things. “I-I didn’t know this was your place,” he sputtered. 

It was a little odd she would be alright with an infected person being in here. …Well then again, the infected girl could’ve just walked in. When he got here the door had been slightly opened. This girl could’ve been planning to capture and/or kill the infected woman before he came and got attacked. 

“The only things I t-took are in the bag I gave you.” He sat up slightly when the woman made some sort of noise with the gun. “Really, I’m not here to cause-”

“Did it bite you?” she snarled, making sure the gun was pointed directly in his face. 

“N-no! She didn’t even hurt me!” 

For a moment, the woman lowered her gun, and he let out a sigh of relief. What the hell was happening? 

The woman took a step forward, raising her gun once again. “Are you with _them_?” she whispered. “Did they send you after me?” 

“...Huh?” For a moment, Naegi was taken aback. “I don’t-” 

“Answer me!”

“N-no!” he shouted. “I haven’t been sent by anyone!” _What am I supposed to do?!_ “Please, believe me!” he tacked on when she made no movement. “No one sent me! I’m here looking for my little sister! We got separated when this whole thing started.” 

“How can I be sure?”

Naegi gulped and frantically looked the woman’s figure up and down. “I don’t know what to say! No one sent me here - I don’t even know who you are!”

Her eyes softened and her gun lowered slightly but it was still pointed at him. It took a few minutes but she finally lowered her gun. Naegi doesn’t know how long they sat in silence together but after what felt like hours, she finally responded. 

“…Me too.”

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Kyouko Kirigiri monitors a woman’s last moments as she ponders the events of the tragedy and the infection it spread. 


	2. In Life comes Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I...hate this chapter. this was one of those ones where I had the image of what I wanted but couldn't execute it the way I wanted, if that makes sense? I also had to cut a lot of it out because I felt like I was telling to much too soon. I mean, I still think I did (which is why it abruptly cuts off at the end) but this will have to do, for now at least. I want to work on the rest of the story, but if I didn't stop when I did, I'll never get it done. (Especially since I'm going to be busy for the next couple of weeks and it's already been too long since the last update.) 
> 
> So...yeah. Hopefully, the next one will be better.

**Chapter two:** In Life comes Death

_ "I'm sorry this has to happen. I wish I could go back and change things so this wouldn't happen, but I can't. I can't do anything. I don't even know if I'll see you again, or if you will even read this note. If you are reading this, know that I love you. I never stopped loving you, not now, not ever. Please just... Just remember that. If not, I'll be with you soon." _

_ Sincerely M-  _

“...Are you still there?” 

“I’m here.” Kyouko Kirigiri slowly stood up, placing down a worn down notebook, and faced the woman to her right. “I never left.”

Resting on the tiled floor was an older woman. Her light brown hair was greasy and stuck to her sunken in face. Her skin was unusually pale and smelt of death, her green eyes were dull, hardly showing signs of life. If Kirigiri hadn’t been talking to the woman, she would’ve thought she was dead long ago.

“Good…” the woman closed her eyes and let out a ragged breath.

Kirigiri approached the woman but made sure to keep her distance. Despite it having been months since the tragedy began, she wasn’t completely sure how the infection spread. From her experience, she knew it spread by biting, or blood on blood contact. She didn’t know if it was airborne, or if it spread from skin to skin contact. 

There was also the fact that this woman’s illness spread differently than how Kirigiri had seen it before. Granted, she’d only seen someone die from being bitten up close once before, but from what else she’d been told, this  _ was  _ strange.

First of all, the person she’d observed before was a man in his late sixties, and he’d been bitten just above his wrist. 

And at first, everything had been fine. 

He was eating normally, moving around fine, no fevers, all of it was fine. It wasn’t until four days later when things started to change. The wound on his wrist never healed. It had been wrapped up and cleaned, but it never healed even a little. After that, his temperature rose hourly, not enough to be lethal, but enough to cause him agony. Then he was hungry. Her group at the time kept feeding him, but it was never enough. Towards the last hour of his life, the only thing he wanted was human flesh. He begged for it - right until his last breath. 

A little over an hour later, he rose from the dead, just like the other infected individuals. 

Kirigiri assumed everyone would turn like that, but this woman was different. 

This woman was young, possibly in her early thirties, and she was bitten in the neck by her husband. …Kirigiri had met them just a day prior, and he was already sick. 

She was showing symptoms just an hour later, not four days. She immediately had no desire to eat or even drink. Her weight loss was rapid. This was the night after she’d been bitten, and she was already nothing but skin and bones. Kirigiri hadn’t even known this was possible, but then again, no one thought a virus like this  _ was _ possible.

Now she was completely bedridden, coughing up blood every now and again, and she keeps fading in and out of consciousness. While Kirigiri didn’t, for obvious reasons, touch her, the woman said her skin was incredibly brittle and the slightest movements hurt.

And honestly, she-

“I have…a son your age…” the woman rasped. 

“A son?” 

She nodded. “And-” the woman turned her head as if she’d been hit, a few droplets of blood landing on the ground beside her, and heaved long, tortuous coughs. “And a daughter… She’s *cough* a few years *cough* younger…!” 

“What are their names?” She knew better than to ask if either was alive, but since this woman wasn’t going to survive…there was always a chance. Not to mention she might feel some comfort talking about her children. 

Kirigiri’s eyes drifted to the window, the sky was illuminated with other shades of red and black. Faintly, Kirigiri could make out the sun reaching ever so closer to the horizon. Soon it would become night, and night could be a death sentence with this woman’s swift deterioration. 

“Who…?”

Kirigiri turned back to the woman, who was staring blankly at the ceiling. “Your children.” 

“I have *cough* children?” 

“Two.” At this point, Kirigiri knew the woman’s time was coming to an end. If she was forgetting her children so soon after speaking of them, then it wouldn’t be long before the rest of her mind deteriorated as well. “A son and a daughter.” 

The woman rasped, “do I have a husband too?”

_ How am I supposed to answer?  _ “He’s not around.”  She had no idea why this woman was affected so differently. Whether it was because it was where she was bitten, or who bit her, or if it was a different kind of infection, or… 

“I…feel horrible.”

“I know,” Kirigiri responded, forcing herself to look away from the woman. “It’ll be over soon.”  _ I shouldn’t promise that.  _

Kirigiri silently returned to the desk and placed her journal just in front of her. She hated having to watch this. Even when this started eight months ago, when she first started investigating the infected people, she didn’t have to see this up close. 

It wasn’t fair. 

“...” Kirigiri inwardly sighed as the woman went quiet.

Nothing about this tragedy was fair. It didn’t matter who someone was or what they did, as long as they lived they would succumb to the virus. Human or animal, adult or child, born or unborn, none of it mattered. This virus - if she could even call it a virus - had the ability to raise the dead. In what way could they survive?

Her grandfather used to say this would blow over and actually stopped her from investigating further. He said it “wasn’t worth our time”. Now, of course, she wished she didn’t listen. In reality, there probably wasn’t much she could’ve done, she knew that, and she also knew there were other detectives working on it.

Kirigiri isn’t one for thinking about “what ifs”, but this time she couldn’t help herself. The others couldn’t find a solution fast enough, so what if she kept investigating? What if she was the extra set of eyes needed, what if she just looked in the right location, what if she pushed herself just hard enough, what if- 

_ I need to stop. _ She reached up to fiddle with one of her hair braids, despite knowing how much her grandfather hated it.

It was so unlike her to think like this. She knew it was probably stress-related, but that didn’t mean it was alright. Stress makes people do things they otherwise wouldn’t and in a world like this, that meant death. 

She wasn’t going to go out like that, not if she could help it.

“Why don’t you try to sleep?” Of course, she doubted the woman would wake up again if she did, but it would be better than her sitting here only to suffer. That wasn’t fair to anyone.

The woman said nothing.

She tried again. “I’m sure it will help with your pain.”

Silence. Complete and total silence. 

For a moment, she didn’t know what to do. Unless her hearing was off, the woman wasn’t breathing.  _ Unless she’s just being quiet? _ She shook her head.  _ That can’t be it. She’s been breathing so heavily, there’s no way she’d be this quiet now. _ Why hadn’t she heard the woman stop breathing _ - _ if she had at least.

Was she really so lost in thought?

Once again, Kirigiri tenderly wrapped up her notebook and turned toward the woman. Despite the woman’s inevitable fate, Kirigiri had been hoping she was just asleep. But… that wasn’t the case. It probably never was.

The woman’s body stiffened up, almost making her look non-human. Her eyes - while they had been dull before - were glazed over, nearly making them look grey. The woman stared lifelessly at the ceiling with her mouth open as if she were going to scream. Which only confused Kirigiri more. The woman didn’t convulse, or moan, or make any sort of movements. It was as if she was frozen in time.  _ I’ll have to write this down when I’m done. _

Normally she’d check a victim’s pulse, but this time she couldn’t take the risk. So far she didn’t think dead bodies spread the virus, but she couldn’t be sure if that was the case. 

At the very least, this meant the woman didn’t have to suffer anymore. 

“I’m sorry this happened to you,” she whispered. What a terrible way to die. Losing her children, being bitten by her husband, essentially starving to death… and Kirigiri didn’t even know what happened to her before she’d met them. How many other people died like her?

And worse yet, she couldn’t even be mourned.

Wasting no time, Kirigiri pulled out her knife and approached the woman. As much as she didn’t want to, she had no choice, the woman was going to turn no matter what. Not only would it be a safer option, but Kirigiri also didn’t know what happened after someone turned. She didn’t have the opportunity to study them; what if these “people” suffered more? 

With a frown, Kirigiri thrust the knife into her head and pulled it out a moment later.  _ It was quick. I suppose that’s something to be happy about. It could’ve been worse. _

At least she would be safe tonight. In a way, that was the only thing that mattered.

* * *

**Next Chapter:** Naegi and Mukuro make an executive decision to find their siblings. Meanwhile, a lone, unknown, figure finds a note abandoned in a forest.


	3. Common Goals

**A.N: I want to clarify something early on that a friend asked while reading this. I figured someone else might think it too.**

**Q:** So is Naegi and Mukuro going to be safe since they’re the protagonists? Or will anyone else have plot armor or some shit like that? 

**A:** I just want to be clear that no one is safe in this story. It doesn’t matter who it is, if they’re a protagonist, villain, side character, etc. So long as they’re in this fic,  anyone has the chance to be killed off or turned. 

For obvious reasons, I can’t say much more than that, but I just want that to be made abundantly clear. Anyone at any moment could be gone, after all, this is a zombie au. I wouldn’t have it be any other way.

* * *

**Chapter three:** Common Goals

“...Me too.”

Mukuro Ikusaba kept a steady gaze on the prisoner kneeling on the rotten floor in front of her. She didn’t exactly understand why she hadn’t killed him yet, but here she was. 

“Y-you too?!” he practically squeaked. “You have a little sister too?” 

It was quite shameful of her; she’d already spoken too much.  _ I didn’t want to waste the ammo…  _

To be fair, she should’ve dealt with him the moment he came in here. There were a number of times she could’ve taken him down with a knife, but she’d opted to follow him around for a while instead. She’d watched him kill the zombie (something she planned on doing anyway) and watched him loot the house. She didn’t understand how he didn’t see her down in the basement since he had walked right past her at one point. 

When she was still with Fenrir, her friends said she was a god on the battlefield. Enemies couldn’t defeat her, nor could they see her coming. Being hidden was a part of certain jobs, so she wasn’t exactly sure if the same thing applied here.

“You, uh, don’t have to talk about her if you don’t want to,” he gulped. 

_ Good,  _ she thought to herself.  _ I wasn’t planning on it.  _ “Tell me about yours,” she ordered.

Well, whether or not he’d been telling the truth was irrelevant, for now at least. She’d have to interrogate him either way. Could he be just some random person genuinely looking for his little sister? Sure. After all, she was looking for her sisters, but there was always the chance he was sent by her previous group _. _

The thought of it made her shiver. They would be looking for her, Ikusaba was well aware of that. They liked to hold grudges and abandoning that group seemed like something they would be pissed off about. 

“Me?” he asked. 

“Who else?” 

“Oh, uh, alright.” 

Well, it didn’t look like she would have to be forceful with him, since he was willingly talking. Now, if this had been during a mission back home, she’d have been  _ far _ more forceful. 

Attack, talk, shoot.

It hasn’t failed her yet. 

“Well, um, she’s two years younger than me, for context. When they went missing-”

“They?”

“Oh, our parents,” he explained with a frown. “I’m looking for them too.”

_ Three people missing a few months in. What is he expecting to find now? _

“Our parents were taking her to pick up a new manga she’d been waiting months for. We didn’t have a comic store in our home town, so whenever Komaru needed a new one, they would go to the city. The closest city to us was over an hour away, so they should’ve been gone for a little over two hours,” he continued. “After the first few minutes of being late, I figured they were just stuck in traffic, so I didn’t worry much about it. After an hour I started getting worried; none of them were answering when I called them. After three hours, I was flipping through the tv channels and stumbled onto the news…” he trailed off, his face going grim. 

“The city was overrun?” Ikusaba knew it couldn’t have been that fast unless he was talking about a small one? After all, she didn’t know which one he was talking about. 

“No.” He paused for a moment. “I, um, don’t think so. It just said there was a major emergency and that no one was allowed to enter or leave the city,” he corrected. “The news guy said there was a lot of confusion going around and that there was a possible serial killer on the loose.”

_ Serial killer? That’s the excuse they used? _

“Yeah, I didn’t believe it either, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. The only thing I  _ could _ do was wait for them to come back home.”

“And they didn’t.’

“That’s right.” He shifted slightly on his knees, causing the floorboards to make a horrible, loud, noise. “So now I’m out here looking for them.”

“...” She couldn’t exactly buy his story. “It’s been a while.” His family was most likely dead if they were in a city when things got bad, surely he knew this?  _ He still could’ve been sent after me if that’s the case. _

“Since this started?” he asked. When she didn’t answer he gulped and shifted his gaze to the floor. “W-well, I ended up having to walk there because the neighbors wouldn’t drive me there. Plus the bus wasn’t running at the time, and I had to stop a lot along the way… then the city was blocked off so I had to look around the perimeter, then I met my first infected p-”

“-Zombie,” she finished for him. “These “people” are nothing but zombies.”

“H-huh?!” He stared at her with his jaw dropped for a moment.  _ He can’t be that stupid. _ “No, that’s-”

“Quiet!” she hissed. Honestly, she was half tempted to just kill him for her own safety. “Those  _ zombies _ have good hearing. No more yelling.”

“B-but that’s wrong,” he stammered. “These people are just sick! Their skin isn’t rotten, they don’t rise from the dead.” So was she going to have to tell him the story of how she shot someone through the heart and he  _ still _ got back up to kill her? “I mean, parts are similar, but they’re not real zombies!”

“Real zombies?” Well, at least she knew he wasn’t sent after her. There’s no way in hell they would’ve let him live if he was like this. “But you admit they’re the same, at least somewhat.”

“What?” His eyes widened. “No!” 

“But in what ways are they different?”  _ Would he even be able to stomach that story?  _ “I don’t see anything.”

“I… I…” He kept opening his mouth as if he were trying to speak, but no words came out. “It isn’t right to call them that.”

“Then what should we refer to them as?” Maybe there was something wrong with him?  _ Was he bitten after all? _

“I don’t know,” he admitted.  _ Is he… Is he tearing up? _ “I just know we shouldn’t call them zombies. It isn’t right.” 

_ Isn’t right? _ That was certainly a strange outlook on the situation. She never thought of the infected people as anything other than zombies - because there wasn’t a difference - so meeting him was strange. Even with the few interactions she had with other non-infected people, they thought of them as zombies too. Did he actually respect them that much, or was it just an act?

But Ikusaba had to admit he didn’t look like he was acting. 

“I’ve just been calling them infected, or sick,” he continued. “Zombie…never crossed my mind. I just don’t like the sound of it - it makes their deaths sound meaningless. It makes-”

“Alright,” she finished. While she didn’t particularly agree, his point was made.

“You’re not going to call them that anymore?” _Funny,_ she thought. His eyes even seemed to light up. 

“...”  __

“Oh.” His shoulders sagged. “I guess it’s kinda unfair to force you to change, I mean, I understand how you could see them as zombies. I’ll admit it. They eat flesh and brains, they can infect someone through bites, and, um, you have to destroy either their head or brain stem to stop them.” He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “I get it, but I still think it’s rude to c-”

“I’ll stop.” G _ od, if it would just get him to shut up about it.  _

“Really?” Honestly, with the way he was practically glowing, Junko would be making fun of him so badly. “Thank you!” 

“...”

He was just so strange - she couldn’t understand it. She had him at gunpoint.  _ Gunpoint. _ She’d been planning on killing him, he has to know that! But here he was, saying “thank you” to a trained killer.

Did he really believe she was going to let him go? Surely he couldn’t be that optimistic, not anymore. Did he plan on running? Fighting? ...Did he even  _ have _ a backup plan?

_I could let him live_ , she thought to herself. Ikusaba grabbed his bag and sifted through his items, not particularly interested in anything in there. The food was nice but… _It isn’t really that much._ _I could take half of it and let him struggle with the rest._ But she’d already looted the house and passed this food up. The fridge was rotten, and she didn’t want to trust anything in it. It wasn’t exactly fair of her to take it.

Her nose wrinkled at the thought.  _ Nothing in this world is fair. _

“So, can you untie me?” the guy, Naegi, spoke up.

“No.”

“What?! Why?”

She glanced down at him with a frown.  _ I don’t think he’s with them. _

“Tomorrow,” she started.  _ And it’s not like he’s threatening. He walked right past me at one point, and I took him hostage without a fight. He gave me information without a fight too…  _ “if you show no symptoms of turning, I’ll believe you.” 

“Oh.” His shoulders sagged. “I guess that makes sense.” 

She closed the bag and placed it beside her. “You’ll be in here for the night, safe, consider it a gift.”

She wasn’t a monster just yet. Besides, maybe she finally found someone she could trust.

“I don’t think I deserve any gifts,” he sighed. “I stole from your house, I stole from others…”

That…wasn’t what she meant by gift. “I’ll be keeping watch just outside this door.” Junko was right, sarcasm was never her thing. “Don’t attempt to leave or untie yourself because I  _ will _ shoot you.”

“I’ll be here,” he said. 

Ikusaba could only hope he was being truthful, for his own sake of course.

* * *

The outlines of the houses were becoming clear as the sun rose over them. Naegi peered out of the small window, noticing how green the leaves were becoming, he let out a quiet sigh. It was finally dawn, and hopefully that meant Ikusaba would release him soon.

Naegi forced himself into a sitting position, wincing at the cracking coming from his back. 

It wasn’t the worst sleep he’d ever had, but he’d be lying if he said it was good. Not that he was ungrateful - because he wasn’t! Ikusaba had kept her word and stood guard all night. He had a guaranteed safe night for the first time in a while; Naegi wasn’t sure anyone could be ungrateful for that.

“Oh, you’re alive then?”

“Huh?!” Naegi whirled around (to the best of his ability) at the sudden noise.  _ When did she get here?! _ “I-”

“I suppose I should be grateful,” she mumbled. 

_Why does she sound so…bored when saying that?_ “See, she didn’t bite me.”

“I can tell.”

Ikusaba moved further into the room, dragging his backpack behind her, and settled herself in the corner of the room once again. Naegi had thought she would untie him right away, but it didn’t seem like she was convinced just yet. 

_ But what else could I do to convince her? _ She did say she would believe him if he hadn’t turned…  _ But it’s good to be cautious. Maybe I should make small talk to get her more comfortable? _

“So, about your sisters-”

Ikusaba narrowed her eyes. “It doesn’t matter who they are. Neither of them are your business.”

_...Great. _ “I didn’t mean anything bad from it!” the last thing he wanted was for her to think he was plotting against them. “I just thought, maybe I saw them while I was out? I’ve met survivors I could’ve seen one or even both of them.”

“Well…?!” Naegi thought she was going to shout at him, but she went oddly quiet. Her eyes were narrowed as if she was lost in thought then, after a few moments, her eyes softened. “You wouldn’t have seen them, but…” she murmured, “I appreciate the thought.”

His eyes widened. “They’re not dead are they?” From the way she’d said it, he thought she was searching for her sisters too.  _ Unless… they were dead before the virus spread. _ Naegi couldn’t help but frown at the thought. There was every possibility that her sisters could be dead and could be looking for their bodies, or she knew they had been turned.

“No,” she responded. “Not that I know of.”

Naegi let out a sigh of relief. “Oh good.”  _ thank God for that. _ “I’m glad they’re alive.”

“They might not be.”

“But why think like that? Wouldn’t it be better to hang on to hope?”

“It isn’t that simple,” Ikusaba stated, turning her gaze away. “I  _ want _ to believe they’re alive, but I’m not stupid, and you shouldn’t be either. All of them are probably dead.”

“I don’t think it’s stupid.” 

She glared at him. “Don’t be soft.”

Ikusaba wasn’t wrong for thinking about the worst, but Naegi wasn’t an idiot. He was  _ well aware _ that Komaru could be dead. It was impossible for him to forget something so important like that, and he had to be prepared to face it if the time comes. But…how could he only think of the worst possible outcome? If he didn’t have hope that Komaru was alive, then he probably wouldn’t be here right now.

“Well, I think all of them are alive.” 

She didn’t respond.

“I think we’re going to go out and find them - alive and well,” he continued. “They could be with a group or they could have found a safe shelter. They could be alone too, I mean if we made it this far, why couldn’t they?” When Ikusaba continued to be silent he added, “We’re going to find them, Ikusaba, both of them.”

He was right, wasn’t he? Being pessimistic was going to break her, right? _ She’ll be so happy when we find them! _ And besides, Naegi was sure her little sisters were looking too. Sooner or later they would have to meet up.

“It might take a while, but I’m sure it will happen.” And…he couldn’t help but feel a little proud to get her hopes up.

“We?” She stared at him with a strange look Naegi couldn’t recognize. “You keep saying we.”

“U-um…” Naegi was sure his face was red. “I mean, we have a common goal, right? Two people looking would be better than one, and you seem to know what you’re doing.”

“He really believed it…” she muttered, looking genuinely shocked.

_ Believed what? _ Naegi thought to himself. “And,” he started despite his confusion, “I thought it might be nice having a friend around.”

“Friend?” Ikusaba’s eyes widened. “You’re considering me a friend so soon? I’ve held you at gunpoint, I have you tied up, I was p-... I could’ve killed you at any moment. How could you even think of calling me a friend?”

“I guess that’s true,” he chuckled quietly. “But, I think if you really wanted me dead or hurt, you would’ve already done it. I know it seems naive, but…it’s just a feeling I have.”

“You’re willing to risk your life for a feeling?”

“To be honest, I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” he admitted. “The world has been getting worse and the people who’ve survived are getting more and more aggressive, and I haven’t had the best interactions with them.”

“Then why trust me?” 

“You  _ do _ intimidate me, Ikusaba, I can’t lie about that. I don’t know if I’m going to walk out of here alive or not, but I don’t want to think about that, and I don’t think you would do it.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“You kept me safe all night long, and you could’ve shot me at any moment. I see all those weapons on you…but the only thing you’ve done is point that gun at me, not use it. If you wanted me dead, I would be.” Feeling a burst of confidence, Naegi added, “Ikusaba, I just want to find my family, and I know you do too.”

After a few moments of silence, Ikusaba wordlessly approached him, pulling out a large knife and cut the rope around his hands.

Naegi let out a sigh of relief as he rubbed his wrists. “Thanks.” 

“I’ve only been here for a few days.” Ikusaba’s voice was quiet, just above a whisper. “I was planning on leaving today. Are you…up for that?” she asked, handing back his supplies.

Naegi glanced at her figure in shock. “You’re coming with me?”  _ What made her change her mind? _

She turned away from him, not bothering to answer.

“I am.”  _ I…guess I should get to the point. _ “But where are we going? I haven’t really had much of a plan besides looking everywhere.”

Ikusaba paused and took a moment to look out the window. “There’s supposed to be a safe house far up North. I doubt it’s safe, or if it’s even there, but it’s the best chance we have. One of my sisters was up there when things got bad, if it’s real, she’d be there.”

“I’m sure she is!” He sent her a smile. “I’m sure all of them are!” Honestly, this was great news! He hadn’t even heard of a safehouse before now. His parents would’ve definitely taken Komaru there. Maybe they were there waiting for him?

“Don’t get your hopes up,” she mumbled sending him a look. “We’re in Summer still, so we’ll have to be careful with the heat. I would’ve told you to take that hoodie off, but the protection is needed. All it takes is one bite.” 

He frowned. “I know.” God, he wished that wasn’t the case. “It’ll be hard, but I’m sure we’ll manage. I mean, both of us made it this long unharmed, right?”

Ikusaba didn’t answer.

“Well,” he started, sliding the bag over his shoulders, “I guess we’re heading North.”

* * *

_ To no one, _

_ This is it. Everything’s gone bad, the walls are closing in around me. It’s almost funny, the trees look like they’re getting bigger and bigger while I’m stuck down here like a loser. I wish I could be up there instead of down here. I want to fly up there and be safe. …I think I’m losing my mind. Everything’s a blur; I can hear those things all around me, but I don’t think anything’s there. I think I was bitten, but I don’t even know anymore. It burns, but I’m freezing. I just ate but I’m starving. I don’t want to die out here, but I just want everything to stop.  _

“...” 

It was funny. The man in this situation - it could only be described as funny. 

But he didn’t laugh. He had no reason to. He just couldn’t bring himself to laugh.

No one was going to learn from this. Sure, someone else will find the body and read the note - that was a given. Some other idiot would wander into this forest and succumb the same way, of that he was sure of.

It infuriated him to know that through all this death, no one was going to learn a damn thing. But it was still funny. It was a pity that he wasn’t a humorous person. In fact, he once knew someone who would find this whole thing quite funny. 

Thus so, he placed the note back where he’d found it. He wasn’t the first to find it, and he sure as hell won’t be the last.

Most likely it would become a continuous cycle - someone dies, no one learns. So as funny as it was, he couldn’t help but admit how boring it was. A boring situation in a boring world with a boring outcome. He wouldn’t say it was pointless, not at all, but he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t boring.

It was truly a pity.

With a sigh, the man continued on deeper into the forest.

Was he scared of the zombies? No - he had no need to. He was still cautious, of course, but he couldn’t bring himself to be scared. Not now, not ever. Besides, he had something he needed to do and it couldn’t be done from here. Going through a forest, city, or jungle in an apocalypse…nothing was going to get in his way. He wouldn’t allow it. 

After all, how could he be scared of this when he had the world in the palm of his hand?

* * *

**Next Chapter:** With the last of her supplies dwindling, Kirigiri makes a decision to leave the safety of the shelter. Also, Naegi and Ikusaba make their way North.


End file.
